Paul Merage

Paul Merage (born 1943) is an Iranian-born American billionaire businessman who co-founded Chef America Inc., the company that popularized the microwavable frozen snack Hot Pockets. In 2015, his net worth was estimated at $1.8 billion.

Biography Merage was born in Iran in 1943 to a Jewish family, the son of Katherine and Andre Merage. He has four siblings: Louise, Camron, David, and Lin. His father ran an import/export business in France before he was forced to flee back to Iran prior to World War II. at General Foods (now Kraft Heinz Company), Hunt Wesson and Specialty Foods where he was director of new products.

In October 2002, he sold Chef America to Nestlé SA for $2.6 billion; Merage also donated $3 million to the Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County, California. He has been an active member of the Business School's advisory board which he chaired for a number of years. He has been board member and a leading donor for the Pacific Symphony and has served on the board of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. For over a decade Merage has been a major and active supporter of El Sol Academy, a dual immersion charter school in Santa Ana, California founded in 2001 with 110 students, later enrolling nearly 1,000 students in preschool through eighth grade. One of Merage's major ongoing philanthropic programs is Merage Institute for U.S.-Israel Trade. The institute's Innovation Bridge Program has brought almost 1000 of the leading high tech Israeli scientists and business leaders to Newport Beach for a special two week business "boot camps". The "boot camps" are focused practical, best practices, on how to best introduce and promote new Israeli technologies in the U.S. to the mutual benefit of both nations. It addresses new technologies in such fields as life sciences, security, military, IT, food/agriculture and Financial Transactions.

Personal life Merage is a member of the University Synagogue, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Irvine, California.